IE launches on client after printing to an HP LaserJet 4250dtn

[Chad Bennett]

I just got 4 new HP LaserJet 4250dtn printers and I am having a problem where after users click Print in their applications (Word, Excel, Acrobat Reader) Internet Explorer launches and attempts to browse to a page on the printers embedded web server. The attempt results in an "HTTP 404 Error - File Not Found".

The web address it attempts to browse to is http://[printerIPaddress]/hp/device/webAccess/preview.htm?ID=

The environment is Windows 2000 and Windows XP clients with a Windows 2000 Server print server. The print server is connected to the HP LaserJet 4250dtn via an HP Standard TCP/IP Port and then shared for the clients to connect to. All standard stuff. I am using the latest PostScript driver available from HP's web site (HP LaserJet 4250 PS date: 1 Apr 2005 rev: 60.42.263.21).

The problem does not occur when printing directly from the print server or if clients are connected to print directly to the printer. This configuration is not desirable because of large workgroups and we want to control client print driver settings.

In my test group of 5 client computers (3 Win2k, 2 WinXP) 4 of the computers have the IE launching problem. 1 WinXP client doesn't, and I don't know why. I ruled out permissions being a problem by logging onto each client with Admin permissions.

I've done on-line chat with HP support for an hour and 15 with no results.

Any ideas?

[Markus Gysel]

Hi Chad,
we currently suffering the same problem on LJ 2430 and LJ 4345mfp's. We also are testing the LJ 3800 not experienceing the problem you've mentioned.
Did you find any solution/workaround in the mean time?

Regards,
Markus Gysel

[Chad Bennett]

Markus,

My apologies for not posting the solution.

The problem was related to our cost recovery/print tracking software. We use a product called LaserTrak (for printers, CopiTrak for photocopiers). I figured out that the one computer that was working properly in my test group didn't have LaserTrak running. So I contacted the vendor (Control Systems http://www.copitrak.com) and they knew exactly what to do. We updated some files on the "LaserTrak server" and then everything was fine (after client reboots).

I hope this helps. If not, test with a computer that has a clean OS install and nothing else. Install and configure the printer as you would on a regular client and print. If it works properly then start looking for what is different between your test computer and a troubled computer. Start adding your apps onto the test station and hopefully you'll find it.

Something else that may help is to run RegMon and FileMon (from System Internals http://www.systeminternals.com) on one of your client computers. If you are not familiar with these tools they capture all registry and file activity/requests to a log file. Then you can scrub through the logs to figure out where things are going wrong. These tools capture EVERYTHING so you'll want to turn them on and back off as quickly as possible.

For example, click File>Print in MS Word and get everything configured for printing the document. Before you click Print turn on FileMon or RegMon. Switch back to the print window as quickly as possible and click Print. After IE launches (because of the print problem) stop capturing events in FileMon or RegMon. Then you could look for possible culprits (a file, command, or process that is calling IE).

Good Luck!

Chad Bennett

[Chad Bennett]

Points of Clarification:
1. I also had the problem with a LaserJet 2430.

2. I contacted the vendor to report the "IE launching problem after printing to the 4250 or the 2430".

3. These laser printers are not tracked for cost recovery but were being monitored by the LaserTrak system by default. In addition to updating files on the LaserTrak server we also configured LaserTrak to ignore these new laser printers.

[Henry Bosch]

Hi There

I am having the same problem (Sort of)

We are using web based forms and reports from Oracle, and heres what happens:

1.
a.)Default Printer = Shared 4250 on our Windows Print Server
b.)Funny popup http://[printerIPaddress]/hp/device/webAccess/preview.htm?ID= loads when printing from Oracle Reports.
c.) Printing from all other applications is fine

Heres the interesting part:

2.

a.) Default Printer = 4250 tcp/ip directly from the workstation. (no Windows Print Server Shared printer)
b.) All Print works okay, no popups from Oracle web reports.

Any ideas?


-Henry

[Jonc1230]

Hi,
Just wondering if/how you resolved this issue.
We are experiencing a similar problem.
Thanks

[Henry Bosch]

Hi There

Correction: I posted earlier that a standalone (TCPIP) worked fine. This was false.. Everything utilizing a 4250 PS/PCL6/PCL5e driver failed.


I resolved my issue today. It's the HPZSR38y.dll of the 4250 post script driver. When printing from certain apps, that DLL is called in conjunction with pscript5.dll. It somehow allows javaw.exe (in my case) to launch a website to that offending url (http://[printerIPaddress]/hp/device/webAccess/preview.htm?ID=)

If you open up that DLL in an editor program (I used Windows Grep to find it), you will see the following string
"/hpcount 0 def/hp/device/webAccess/preview.htm?ID=HPEWSIPAddressà à m0"

TA-DA! Nasty driver programming.. (or something)..

So, we tried some different drivers. HP recommend we try a 4 Plus, and that worked great. So, since the 4 Plus driver is funtionality limited (no quicksets/etc), we tried a 4200 PS driver.

If you look at the driver dll's that come with the 4200, the HPZSR38y.dll is no where to be found.

A windows Grep of the folder (C:\WINDOWS\system32\spool\drivers\w32x86\) where the HP drivers are put, only show that DLL with the "Preview.htm" string inside.

It would be nice to know from HP, what printer setting/postscript setting/etc causes this issue.

I am in the process of logging a bug with HP support. Hopefully the 4200 PS driver will work for anyone else who has this problem.

I am assuming that the other fellow who had this issue (Chad) got an updated program, that utilized a different HP driver.

-Henry

[Chad Bennett]

Sorry I haven't replied sooner. The HP Forum wouldn't let me log in or reset my password. I thought I'd try again (2 weeks later) and it worked!

Anyway, I am presently using the HP LaserJet 4250 PS driver version 60.51.502.32. Note from my first post I had an earlier version. Both worked fine after resolving the issue with my print tracking software. I didn't see the HPZSR38y.dll on my system. The closest thing I have to it by name is HPZSR3ZW.DLL.

Good job on the research Henry!

[Henry Bosch]

Thanks Chad

I found out that although I was on the latest driver (like you) I had that dll, which happens to be from 60.42.xxxx.

The new version, 60.51, does not have that dll at all. So, had my print server/test box been properly cleared of an old driver, I might have been okay.

So the problem I have now is this.. How do I update the drivers on my print server (30 or so 4250's), while not breaking them all..

My guess is to switch them all to a driver such as the 4 Plus. Then delete all references to the 4250, then reinstall the new 4250 driver.. Thoughts?